Did you notice it’s been a little quiet around here? If you follow my Instagram, you already know I joined my husband this spring on a 5-week RVing trip to see national parks in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas. (Find my Instagram stories about the trip in my highlights under Nat’l Parks.) The parks were sublime, majestic, abundant with eye-popping wildlife (grizzlies, bison, moose, and more) — all the things we hoped to see. The driving — 8,000 miles of it! — was entertaining (lots of podcasts and out-loud reading), tedious (so. many. miles), thrilling (we drove a canyon-clinging dirt road with an abyss on one side and no guardrails), frustrating (we coped with two different tire blow-outs on our rented RV), and peaceful (that iconic western scenery).

In short, it was an adventure.

We rolled into our driveway last Tuesday, road-weary and eager to be home, and discovered that a doe — maybe two — had commandeered the front garden as a daycare.

A set of twins and maybe another single fawn have been bedding down in the garden, waiting for their moms to return from a few hours of grazing. We startled them a few times after our return, accidentally sending them bounding across the street into a neighbor’s shrubbery.

They seem more used to us now. I spotted the twins in our driveway one afternoon, sticking close to mom but also exploring a bit and nibbling, as they do.

Their mom soon sent them off to bed, watching as they picked their way into the gravel garden between garage and house…

…where they awkwardly knelt and tucked themselves into bed on knobby rocks. We spy on them from the hall bath window.

The gloriously mild and rainy spring Central Texas experienced while I was away turned the roadsides into a kaleidoscope of orange, yellow, and purple wildflowers. It also worked its magic on my garden, filling many of the gaps from two hard winters and last summer. Here’s the serpentine raised bed behind the house, abloom with purple skullcap, ‘Ellen’s Legacy’ red rock rose (a new one I’m trying), hesperaloe, lanceleaf blanketflower, and aloe. A happy sight to come home to.

Another view

A pink rain lily popped up amid ‘Everillo’ sedge, with gaura, a moody mangave, and ‘Amistad’ salvia behind.

On the deck, tiny potted succulents seem to be enjoying the mild weather too. From left to right: ‘Cream Spike’ agave, ‘Bloodspot’ mangave, and Leopold agave (I think).

Blushing leaves echo an orange deck chair.

The datura near the back porch has made a Risk-level move to take over the entire bed. Last night a dozen or more tubes unfurled like glowing spotlights. This is the morning after, with flowers still open under a cloudy sky.

It’s officially summer now. I hope it will be as relatively mild as spring has been here in Texas.

I’ll be posting about the national parks and monuments we visited as I have time. I can’t wait to share my favorite images with you!

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Digging Deeper

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

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